


deep in her eyes i see the future

by ellipsesificate



Category: Battleborn (Video Game)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-19
Updated: 2017-02-19
Packaged: 2018-09-25 16:55:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,089
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9831236
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ellipsesificate/pseuds/ellipsesificate
Summary: Ambra and Galilea have a lot of history to deal with.  Good thing they finally have time for that.





	

**Author's Note:**

> this is my first time writing battleborn and while i'm not sure if i really got their voices down but i couldn't let femslash february go by without me writing something (again). partially inspired by battleplan #28. also i stole the title from walk the moon's "shut up and dance" like an uninspired chump but no one has to know that. anyways i'd literally die for this needlessly dramatic ship sorry it's short

When the bellow reverberated down the corridor, both Ambra and her new aide turned to see the fierce warrior of the long gone Arbiter of Being, the knight of living shadows, the uptight pain-in-the-ass bound so inextricably to Ambra's own karma, hurtling towards them with the strength of centuries of vengeance.

“On the name of the Sustaining Mother,” Ambra swore under her breath, absently shooing the aide away with a wave of her hand. “Go tell Warmaster Rath that I may be late for our meeting—it appears that I have a smidge of unfinished business to attend to.”

The aide (a Sustainment hopeful who couldn’t proclaim, “Any deed, any price” with any inspiring conviction, but was brilliant with paperwork and scheduling) didn’t need to be told twice—as much as they prized combat, few Jennerit looked forward to a confrontation with the Wraith of Bliss.

As the aide scurried off, Ambra gripped her staff firmly and jutted out her chin, steeling herself. “Galilea, darling, how good to see you—did you come by just to visit little old me?”

“Do not play coy with me, Ambra,” Galilea retorted, visor sliding away to let loose a wicked snarl. Privately, Ambra thanked the Mother that she hadn’t yet made any moves for the greatsword at her back. “I know that you and Deande are conspiring against me!”

Raising an eyebrow, Ambra looked Galilea over more closely. Throughout the course of their fellowship as Battleborn, they never willingly approached the other. Rather, whenever the cruel fate of Captain Ghalt’s orders forced them together, passive-aggressive snarking and criticism made for the bulk their interactions. For Galilea to challenge her, at Ambra’s home base, meant that something severe had to have offended Galilea so. Unfortunately, Ambra had no idea what she was raving about.

“I’m afraid I’ve had no time to conspire with Deande on anything other than restoring order to our Empire,” Ambra said primly. “You see, we try to discuss important matters—”

In her next breath, Galilea shoved Ambra up against the wall. It was much less fun than it used to be. “I’ve been offered Sustainment—a complete Sustainment.”

Ambra went cold with understanding.

Not just mentally. The very air weighted down on them, pulling Ambra against Galilea’s icy desolation and curling black at the edges of her vision. Face to face, Ambra could see the void writhing in Galilea’s eyes, threading across her skin. “You think you can corrupt me further?” she barked, fingers digging into Ambra’s shoulder. The strap of her dress slipped down, brushing against Galilea's stiff fingers. “That I could possibly want your unnatural Jennerit technology to—”

A flare of rage roused Ambra into action, tightening her grip on her staff and jabbing it against Galilea’s throat to cut off the vitriol. She went still, etchings of corruption hovering around her and slowly taking form.  “If this _had_ been my suggestion,” Ambra hissed, “then it would have been to _spare you this wretched existence_.”

The hand pinning Ambra to the wall went slack, but Galilea didn’t move away. Long ago, Ambra could pull her into dark corners and hallways and press against her, seeking out that soothing Helician-cool against her own warmth, high on the illicit thrill, and as much as Galilea would complain and chastise her for impropriety unbefitting a priestess, she never moved away. Not then, not now, but this was not then, this was now. This was a preternatural chill prickling against Ambra’s skin and Galilea’s dark, infinite eyes gazing back at her. This was just a long time coming.

She didn't know how long they stood there, locked against each other, but slowly the void seeped away. Galilea stepped back, averting her gaze as Ambra adjusted her shoulder strap. “My apologies,” she said, gruff but formal. “I did not mean to…approach you so forcefully. Please tell Deande that—”

“I think you should do it.”

Galilea’s face jerked back towards her, and Ambra wondered if the void would envelope them again. Thusly, she made a point of examining the sharp tips of her gloves with an air of nonchalance, as if every part of her didn’t ache with immeasurable, terrifying emotion.

“It’s either exist as this unstable _monster_ ,” Ambra made sure to sneer, just to see Galilea flinch, and hope on the off-chance that condescension could finally make Galilea see the error of her ways, “or a full Sustainment for you, my dear. You can’t go back to the way you were before.”

“I’m not the only one,” Galilea replied darkly.

Ambra grit her teeth, fighting urge to snap, _And who’s fault is that?_   This entire confrontation was unseemly—they hardly needed to rehash bad blood, not in a public corridor where any reprobate could walk in on them. “In any case, my dear Galilea,” Ambra said, voice crisp, “I recommend that you look past your bias against our customs, and consider what is best for your personal well-being—for once. I imagine Deande is only trying to do you a favour, after all. But it’s hardly my place to advise you now, is it?”

With that, she planned to stalk off. Leave the Wraith to watch after her helplessly and really think about what her numerous poor choices cost her. But before she had a chance to collect herself, Galilea already abruptly moved away and darted off, leaving Ambra stranded in her wake instead. How positively _aggravating_.

And then Galilea turned back around, wide-eyed and jaw working around a slow, heavy jumble of words. For a dizzying moment, she thought of Galilea six hundred years ago, the way she looked at her as Ambra excitedly delivered the news confirming her sponsorship. “Ambra, I…I never wanted to—you and I…”

Back then, whatever conflict in her face then that Ambra had ignored in her ecstasy hadn’t prevented her from responding with smooth grace and appreciation. Right now, the jerky words reminded her more of that day at the Sustainment Engine, Galilea broken and dying at Ambra’s feet.

“We don’t have to say everything today,” Ambra interrupted, trying to shove down the urge to devolve into similarly wrenched babbling. “It’s not as if the universe is ending now, is it?  We have time.”

The shift in Galilea’s expression—soft and open with her eyes glittering oddly—didn’t look like one Ambra had ever seen before. Not so genuine and raw. Ambra hoped she didn’t bare a matching soppy look, although she knew that she did.

“Yes,” Galilea said. “I suppose we do.”


End file.
